Inheritance from abroad

mogscot

What is the best and safest way to transfer euros from Ireland to the UK without excessive banking charges or hidden exchange charges? This is substantial inheritance from property following the death of my husband. Probate now complete. What checks may be made and how do I go about this please . I plan to transfer the money to my children equally as a PET. 

colsten

A Starling Euro and a Starling GBP account. starlingbank.com

VH66

Hello, I have dual nationality French/British. My mother died two years ago and my 4 siblings and I are set to receive  the proceeds of the sale of her apartment in a couple of weeks. My french lawyer recently told me they cannot send the money direct to my British bank account because of the situation with brexit. The only bank account I hold in France at the moment is with "Caisse d'Epargne" and they will charge me an arm and a leg to transfer any kind of money to my British account -and more so with anything in the 10s of thousands of pounds. What would you suggest I do? Can I open an account with Transferwise or similar which would have a French SWIFT / IBAN code?

Dr_Crypto

Brexit doesn’t apply until 1/1 so if you get the transfer now it’s fine as we are still under all EU rules. 

colsten

Transferwise would work, albeit without any deposit protection. You get a BExxx IBAN.

If you want deposit protection, Starling Bank is better. They give you a GBxxx IBAN. Caution though - deposits >€50,000 incur a negative interest rate.

VH66

colsten said:

Transferwise would work, albeit without any deposit protection. You get a BExxx IBAN.

If you want deposit protection, Starling Bank is better. They give you a GBxxx IBAN. Caution though - deposits >€50,000 incur a negative interest rate.

Fine, I would be under that threshold  

Rich2808

mogscot said:

What is the best and safest way to transfer euros from Ireland to the UK without excessive banking charges or hidden exchange charges? This is substantial inheritance from property following the death of my husband. Probate now complete. What checks may be made and how do I go about this please . I plan to transfer the money to my children equally as a PET. 

Make sure you transfer the funds to the UK before distributing the funds to your kids - as such gift transfers in Ireland are subject to a 33% tax on sums over 3,000 euro per annum - although in practice they will have a tax free lifetime limit on gifts from parents of 335,000 euro
Which relative is your husband inheriting from - if its not from a parent the tax free lifetime allowance is only 32,500 euro (a close blood relative like an aunt, sister or grandparent) or less (16,000 euro for a friend or non close relative and you pay 33% on any excess. And those are lifetime limits not per inheritance. Capital acquisitions tax - as their IHT is called - is one of the most brutal in the world. Its almost like the person who designed it truly hated anyone who didn't have kids!


https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/money_and_tax/tax/capital_taxes/capital_acquisitions_tax.html

Caladan

Have you considered a Deed of Variation to the will? This could prevent the funds ever being considered as part of your estate. Various rules apply and you'd need to have done it within 2 years of the person passing away
Found this: https://www.redstonewills.com/news/item/what-is-a-deed-of-variation-how-can-it-benefit-you#:~:text=A%20deed%20of%20variation%20is,someone%20who%20did%20not%20inherit.